W00t. Slightly longer chapter with mysteriously vague plot points. Worry not, though, it will all make sense in the end! It'll make sense even sooner if you're good at analyzing plot points.

Anyways, I started this yesterday but didn't finish due to homework. Go figure. (On a side note, my assignment had pros and cons: con: I had the worst skin tones in the class. pro: I had the best clothing folds in the class. That about evens things out!)

I don't own Naruto. More's the pity.


Nartuo couldn't believe his eyes. At that moment the intense pain coursing through his veins had no meaning as the sight of a living, breathing Hinata commanded his vision. As soon as the shock of it all wore off though, the invisible torment in his body recaptured his attention.

"Hinata!" He fought the pain. "Get that needle outta that book!"

The Hyuuga said nothing as she swung her arm around and fired a single round, flipping the ironclad book into the wind as the bullet struck the needle from its foundation.

Uzi immediately shot forward to confront Priest. Unfortunately, the mad holy man had the foresight to leap backwards as soon as the white-eyed woman swung her arm towards his scripture of death. He applied his chakra to the microscopic devices within his body and passed harmlessly through a wall. The red-eyed easterner, however, did not allow a mere stone barricade to stop him. He thrust his left arm forward, striking the grainy surface and shattering it with a muted barrage of slicing energy before pushing through the airborne debris. He struck his remaining tails into the ground to throw himself forward while forming another energy whip on his right arm. As soon as his velocity picked up, he tossed the whip into the wind towards the madman.

The priest laughed when the whip phased through him without as much as a scratch. The man quickly moved out of the way of the ropelike energy and pulled forth another small knife, preparing to jam it into the skull of the red-eyed specialist. Naruto waved his left hand towards the ground, sending out more energy and subsequently throwing himself higher into the air and out of the way of the unholy man's blade. Priest took this moment to grasp more needles and hurl them towards the air bound blonde.

Uzi swept his tails under him in like a broom and knocked the needles and the immortal aside. The man skidded to a halt and his perpetual grin once again wiped itself from his face.

"Looks like I'll have to actually use it this time…" He lifted his arm and threw out some wires to retrieve his book. As soon as it was reeled back into his hands he began furiously writing in it. When Naruto finally hit the ground, the priest glared at him as he charged. His hand stopped writing and he raised it in the air to bring it down onto the scribbled page. "Behold!" He announced. "The true power of…"

His eyes suddenly rolled back in his head and he slumped to the ground, revealing Hinata standing behind him with her fingers outstretched.

"Got 'im," she said softly.

"Eat it!" Naruto pounced on the regenerating corpse, impaling it with his dwindling eight tails. The red-eye then lifted the priest into the air with the appendages and placed his tattooed hand against the mass of tails. He discharged his energy into the protruding stems of chakra and the madman's body was ripped to shreds. When he seemed satisfied at his actions, the tails burned away and he approached the panting Hyuuga.

"I missed you," he said quietly as he embraced her.

"Yeah," she returned the affectionate gesture. "Me too."

"Hey, Uzumaki!" Sasuke called from the distance, interrupting the moment. "We still have yet to kill the priest."

Uzi looked at him with tired eyes. He was exhausted from the fight, having gone through physical, mental, psychological, and even biological trauma via the overdose on the Agende Vhansin drug. "This stuff really makes me loose concentration," he commented inwardly. "Keeps me from using my energy to its full potential…"

"Yeah," Karin trailed after the Uchiha. "We have to destroy every last bit of him or he'll just regenerate again!"

"Can you guys do it? I'm tired…" He complained playfully.

"Fine," the Sharingan user replied dejectedly. He began by immediately spotting a portion of flesh and engulfing it with a ball of flame from his lips.

"Damn…" Naruto said, eyes wide with amazement. "I gotta learn how to do that…" He slumped to the ground, Hinata in tow.

"So," she began, "Where to next?"

He sighed. "Still going east to see the vampires." He looked over and spotted the iron book of the unholy priest. Curiosity got the better of him and he grabbed it and began flipping through the pages.

Every word was scribbled in red ink and a symbol was scrawled in the center of every page; a hollow circle with a triangle inside.

"What's in it?" Hinata inquired, head leaning on the blonde's shoulder.

"Dunno," he responded as he read the repeating words on every page. "Who the hell's this 'Jashin' guy?"

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After another three hours, the eastern travelers were on the road again. It took them a solid two hours to locate and decimate the shredded pieces of slowly regenerating flesh, and another hour to wait and be absolutely certain they didn't miss anything. During that time, the cross's energy producing nanomachines ceased functioning as if they could feel the final death of their master. The device was left standing in the center of the demolished town as a testament to the gruesome battle.

"Hey, Hinata," Uzi began, "How, uh, how did you… you know… come back?"

She smiled. "I think it was that cross. Karin and Suigetsu drug it over to me and the next thing I knew, I woke up."

"I think I've got it figured out," Karin explained. "The microscopic machines inside the cross would have healed anyone within close proximity."

"Yeah, but every time we killed Priest he would just come back to life again really fast," Naruto pointed out. "It took much longer with Hinata."

"It was probably because she didn't have any of the machines already in her. That priest carried that thing around all the time, so his body must have been saturated with them."

The red-eyed blonde shrugged. It was the best explanation he had heard yet. "What's important is that she's still alive."

The group continued on the path until nightfall and set up camp, once again, in an isolated spot away from the road. That night, as the blue-haired Hyuuga slept, she felt as if she were being held closer than before by her red-eyed former crush. She reveled in the shared warmth and slept soundly… for the most part.

Her dreams were not of the pleasant sort that evening. They weren't full on nightmares, but the general content consisted of pain and suffering, surely influenced by the harrowing fight earlier that day.

After a while of uncomfortable dreams, she found herself standing once again in a partially flooded hallway lit by dim lights. "I remember this…" She thought as she walked down the corridor and arrived at a familiar set of gates.

"You again," rumbled the fox's voice from the shadows of his prison as he appeared at the bars. "What do you want?" Surprisingly, the demon sounded… tired.

"I just woke up here," the woman responded brazenly. "I didn't really come to talk."

"You're every bit as horrible a liar as that boy," he scoffed. "Why are you here?"

"I heard from the Uchiha that Naruto released all nine tails but still couldn't kill the priest. Why?"

The fox was silent for a moment. "Despite what everyone would have you believe, it takes a good bit of concentration for him to properly use my power."

"Then why could he use it in Hive City?"

"He was in a sane state of mind."

"What made this fight any different?"

"He used some kind of drug," he referred to the Agende Vhansin's concoction. "It broke down his mind to that of a wild animal. He lacked the proper focus to wield my power."

"I only saw eight tails."

He sighed. "I used up one full tail and quite a few of the others to purge the poison quickly from his body. If I did not act, he may have very well stayed that way."

The white-eyed Hyuuga shuddered at the thought. "Why did you help him? If he dies, will you die as well? Or would you be freed from this prison?"

The nine tailed beast bellowed. "I would die with him, but I would be free to come alive again."

"So why did you help him?"

Any sense of humor or jovial quality in the fox's voice died. "Because… I have to."

"Some answer." She stood her ground. "Why?"

"I am… forced to do so…"

This got Hinata wondering. "Who could possibly be strong enough to order you around?"

"Us!" replied a multitude of thousands of voices. The blue-haired easterner was startled by the sudden reply of uncountable voices reverberating from the shadows. The voices sounded like screams and whispers all at the same time. The Hyuuga scanned the narrow room to find the source, only to be met by an equally uncountable number of dull, glossy yellow eyes suddenly opening within every shadow that existed in the dank chamber.

"Yes," the fox concluded. "Them…"

Hinata suddenly jolted from her slumber and immediately looked up at Naruto's face. He was sleeping peacefully, but now she was intensely worried. She laid her head back into his chest and thought over what she had just seen as sleep slowly crept back into her white eyes.

"What's happening to you, Naruto?"

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A group of older richly dressed men marched authoritatively down the overly elaborate hall of the throne room. They halted at the base of the heightened chair and aimed their disgruntled looks at the man seated in the shadows.

"My lord!" The lead man addressed. "Did you order the release of the Jashin priest?!"

"Why, yes I did," replied the smug specter. "Is there a… problem?"

"The priest has been slaughtering entire towns in the countryside! Did you order him to do so?!"

"Hmm…" The figure examined his nails as he thought. "I merely told him to seek and destroy any red-eyes and their supporters."

"But he has been killing innocent civilians who have nothing to do with the resistance!"

"How can you know that for sure?" countered the suave voice.

"My lord," the elder man's voice became calm and serious. "The council has sat by and watched your disregard for human life go on long enough! This time you have overstepped your bounds as the leader of this country, and now it is time for you to face the consequences!"

The tyrant king merely sat there in silence. Then he chuckled. His humor quickly evolved from a miniscule show of amusement to laughing like a madman. As the apparent tears of laughter dried, the figure spoke again. "I think you gentlemen do not understand what the real world is like."

"What do you mean?" he asked apprehensively.

"I mean that you do not seem to grasp the fact that simply being in the presence of our enemies and not… reporting them in and of itself is a crime punishable by death."

"They were all innocent!" He retorted angrily. "We know they…"

"You know nothing!" The figure yelled and stood from his seat. "But no need to worry. I'll make sure you fully grasp what the world is all about. Lorsvall," he called to the shadows.

"Yes sir?" Responded a shadow as it stepped out from behind the darkness of the towering throne.

"I think I have some new recruits for your… special forces."

A grin could be seen on Lorsvall's darkened face. "Thank you, sir," he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, droves of soldiers dressed head to toe in black tactical gear stepped out from behind the shadows of the numerous pillars lining the chamber and lumbered casually toward the panicking elder senator members.

"Wha- What is the meaning of this?!" cried a member in the doomed group. "Soldiers, stand down! Stand down!!"

The troops ignored the command as they grabbed onto the struggling men and dragged them kicking and screaming back into the shadows.

The tyrant king sat back down on his throne. "It seems the Jashin priest has failed."

"My apologies, sir."

"No worries. He did an excellent job cleaning up some of the riffraff." The leader sounded pleased with the results of the mad priest. "Now all we need to do is await another report from the foreigner."

"Yes, sir." Lorsvall grinned as he disappeared behind the throne.


(Insert Vash the Stampede's retarded guy laughing voice) AHAHHHAHHAHHA!

Apparently, the general consensus is that I'm evil. Hell, I actually almost lost a reader (that I'm aware of) when I temporarily killed Hinata! But's it's all cool since she's alive again... for now... (Ehhehehehehhh... makes ya think, don't it?)

I'm pretty tired now. Think I'll take a nap before hittin' the books again. Peace!!!!